Amara Raja to Invest Rs 1,200 Crore More for 1 GWh Lithium Cell Manufacturing

India’s largest lead-acid battery maker Amara Raja Energy and Mobility Ltd will invest an additional Rs 1,200 crore by the financial year 2027 for its lithium-ion cell manufacturing project. This would bring the total investment in the cell manufacturing project for 1 GWh capacity to Rs 2,400 crore. 

“So far, we have invested Rs 1,200 crore into the subsidiary [New Energy business], which is not only used for CAPEX but also for some of the working capital requirements. We would require another Rs 1,200 crores to complete the research lab, customer qualification plant, as well as the gigafactory with about 1 GWh capacity,” the company’s management said on Monday.

Amara Raja is setting up the Gigafactory in Telangana through its New Energy Business unit — Amara Raja Advanced Technologies — at an estimated cost of Rs 9,500 crore. The company targets a total cell manufacturing capacity of 16 GWh in phases by the end of this decade, catering to both automotive and storage applications. 

The Gigafactory will initially start commercial production of cells based on Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) chemistry, mainly for two-wheelers, by the end of FY27. It already has two operational battery pack assembly facilities - one in Tirupati (1 GWh capacity for stationary applications) and another in Divitipally (1.5 GWh capacity for mobility applications).

“As far as the customer qualification plant (CQP) and research lab are concerned, equipment orders are all done. We have started getting one or two equipment. We expect the CQP and the research lab to be functional by the end of this financial year; the research lab could be ready by the end of this calendar year itself,” the management said. 

“And as far as the Giga factory is concerned, the building construction has just commenced. Now we are discussing the equipment side of it. FY27 end is when we will see the commencement of the Giga factory.” 

He added that the initial 1 GWh capacity will focus exclusively on producing 21700 cells with NMC chemistry. The company will then decide whether to expand that capacity to 2 GWh or pivot to producing alternative LFP cylindrical cells (30 to 140 form factors).

Amara Raja has a tie-up with a Chinese company with which it has jointly developed an NMC-based 2170 cylindrical cell. It has also partnered with Gotion-InoBat-Batteries to manufacture Li-ion cells based on LFP. The company has recently tied up with automakers including Ather Energy and Piaggio India to supply Li-ion batteries.

On the other hand, Amara Raja’s competitor, Exide Industries, is planning to start trial operations at its upcoming Li-ion cell manufacturing plant in Bengaluru this calendar year and begin serial production within 4–5 months after the homologation process. The facility will have a capacity of 6 GWh in its first phase, which will eventually be ramped up to 12 GWh. The company said it will start with a cylindrical NMC line for two-wheeler applications. Exide has invested a total of Rs 3,702.23 crore in the Li-ion business till now.

Recently, Ola Electric, has already commenced operations at its Giga factory, said it is delaying the expansion of its cell manufacturing plant capacity, citing lower-than-anticipated growth in the electric vehicle market. The company will limit its cell manufacturing capacity to 5 GWh till FY29, compared to the earlier plan of setting up 20 GWh capacity by mid-2026. ENDS